This week I have learned:
- the reason we fly flags at half mast when mourning. Apparently, it comes from the naval tradition of when one country defeated another, the victor’s flag would be flown above the vanquished. In death, a flag at half mast is to indicate defeat to the unknown flag of death above.
- when absorbing lots of information about a new scenario, it’s interesting where the gaps are between what one thinks one needs to know and what it is that others think you should know.
- I do like the licence to ask daft questions. I might start issuing them.
- the “trump cards” question is one of my most valuable: What are the trump cards that are played in your organisation when people want you to know that they just need to do something?
- I’m in such a mixed mood about generative tools at the moment. In isolation, they can be so useful. I am not sure I can see how they scale without us entering the same challenges that we have had with spreadsheets for the last 40 years.
- focusing their implementation on simple headcount reductions will end in tears. A colleague shared something this week that said that accountants’ relative salaries have increased since they have had to use spreadsheets…
The week in media:
Listened:
- some of Ed Zitron’s podcasts. He’s pretty much as you’d expect from his blog, but his chats with Adam Becker and Karen Hao are worth a listen.
Read:
- Continuing the history of the national flag in The Union Jack (from where this week’s first learning observation came).
Saw:
- the first two episodes of 9 Bodies in a Mexican Morgue
- The Pictograms exhibition at Japan House.
Next week:
Venezia!
The week in photos:
mmitII 